Fragile

[5phreak]

is it just me, or does the 5 seem fragile? Maybe it's just cars in general these days.

I keep breaking things easily on the 5. For instance:

I was toweling the car after washing, and a little plastic clip from inside the door came flying off. Snapped easily.

The backs of the seats when down tear easily from a bicycle pedal or anything that puts weight on them. You'd think they would have made the seat backs better for a cargo area.

Last night I leaned on the sliding door just slightly and heard two things snap. It was two little black plastic rivets that hold the tapered piece of rubber molding that fills the space between the front door and sliding door when closed. So now I have a piece of rubber trim flapping in the breeze. I glued it down with double sided tape. Hopefully it will hold.

then when i was changing the oil two of the screws that hold the plastic pan on were siezed up, probably from winter salt and grime and when I turned them harder the captured nut became un-captured.

it's just little things i know, but it seems like you have to be really careful with this car.

rant over.

 

[slvrsleeper]

I think it is plastic that is fragile. not the whole car. In fifteen years the interior of most everything on the road today is going to be falling apart. I have had good luck with mine so far and hope it continues. BTW is yours an 06 or an 07?

 

[5phreak]

^^ it's an '07

 

[coolmazda5]

So far no issues here but I will hold my comments until my kid starts kicking the seats, throwing the Sippy cups (oh, that is already happening) and experimenting with the car features (like the 2nd row flipping bottom seats)

But, I can tell that my old Honda was more rugged (even the seats fabric) yet did not meet our needs (and I won't buy an Odyssey )

 

[doctorz]

I think the basic car is fine, but I agree the trim is flimsy. The vehicle was built to a price point.

 

[slvrsleeper]

I dunno I have had good luck with mine and it has been through hell. My four year old girl has torture tested the seat fabric extensively. And the backs of the second row seats have supported 33 cinder-blocks and four bags of Quickcrete at one time without breaking. Although I think the rear sway bar started squeaking after that trip to Lowes now that I think about it....

 

[bulwnkl]

I find ours to be quite resilient to use. Now, we only have 28,xxx miles on it ('06), but it's been pretty good outside of easily-scratched paint. Our 2 boys haven't ripped, torn, or worn out anything at all, hauling stuff hasn't produced any issues, and nothing's broken except a bent wheel and control arm (hardly the car's fault given the impact).

I observe the plastic to be at least as good if not better than many entry-level vehicles of 15 years ago. Unfortunately, probably not better than Japanese vehicles from 15 years ago because that was when they were still enjoying the benefits of having had a weak Yen but a super-strong economy and were building things to a higher quality standard while still being able to meet their price-point.

It's a tough call, I guess, trying to compare present-day vehicles with 'glory days' (whenever anyone's glory days were) ones, but we're happy with ours. If we'd wanted to (or had been able to, at the time) spend the money for a more expensive vehicle, we would have considered it and probably bought the 5 anyway.

 

[mrbwa1]

So far our '07 Sport is holding up well. The silver plastic around the Auto Shifter gate is a piece of junk. My wife somehow managed to gouge it the 1st day we had the car, and it along with the plastic around the heater controls is pretty scratched up. The other trim is holding up well. I am pretty meticulous about car care and did a full on Armor-All of the entire interior as soon as I had a chance. New cars always soak up a LOT of the stuff!

My only other real concern is scraping the front air dam on a curb or parking divider, as it sits pretty low as compared to some of the parking lot curbs around here...

 

[daan]

I've already broken those clip things for the cargo net off the walls in the back. That kind of freaked me out. Most of my previous vehicles were pretty bare-bones (think "no carpet") so I was expecting some breakage from all the fancy stuff inside, just not the same week I bought it.

 

[antlind]

I've already broken those clip things for the cargo net off the walls in the back. That kind of freaked me out. Most of my previous vehicles were pretty bare-bones (think "no carpet") so I was expecting some breakage from all the fancy stuff inside, just not the same week I bought it.

Shoudl be covered by yr warranty.

 

[thugus]

A couple issues of our own.

5freak, funny now that you mention it, I am also missing the two small black plastic rivets on the rubber trim piece as well. I heard it pop out, but it was already night time, and it was a lost cause.

The driver side seat warmer toggle switch isn't illuminated compared to the passenger's side. We will bring the car in to get both fixed under warranty. I just hope the car isn't so rare that it will take 2.5 months just to get the parts.

Thugus.

 

[5phreak]

Interesting that those rivets broke for you as well, and I'm not surprised. They broke so easy. Use double sided tape if the dealer doesn't fix it.

 

[radiohead]

During the pre-delivery inspection PDI Thursday, I broke two of the small plastics pins holding the rubber seal on the sliding door.

 

[5phreak]

now my stupid rear view mirror is coming loose :-\ [sigh]